1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a personal vehicle, and more particularly to a personal vehicle which uses manpower as the major driving force for moving and uses electric motors for controlling the dynamic equilibrium.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bicycles are general conveniences in early society. However, with the industrialization and the acceleration of the pace of life, the parts of functions of the bicycles are replaced by motorcycles and cars and thus the bicycles are gradually being ignored. In recent years, under the global wave of energy conservation and carbon reduction, the bicycles become one of the important selections for many commuters or people in exercise. Owing to the conventional bicycles are driven by manpower, all the problems caused by using fossil fuel, such as air pollution, consumption of too much energy and greenhouse gas emission, can be gotten rid of. Furthermore, the bicycles are simpler in structure, lighter in weight, easier to manufacture and maintenance and cheaper in cost than the other vehicles.
However, the size and the maneuverability of the bicycles are still need to be improved. Owing to the front-and-rare wheels installed in the bicycles make the body length longer, it is easy to interfere with pedestrians when driving the bicycles in the downtown, and the situation of battling between bicycles and pedestrians may happens.
In order to overcome the above shortcomings, a balancing personal vehicle is provided. Referring to FIG. 1, which is a perspective view of the balancing personal vehicle disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,302,230 and 6,367,817. The balancing personal vehicle A1 includes a support platform A10, two grip A11, a handle A12, and two wheels A13. The internal of the support platform A10 is provided with an electronics component, such as several gyroscopes, for detecting the balance status of the vehicle body and a driver, and two motors are controlled by a control circuit for making the vehicle to balance itself. Thus, with the shift in the center of gravity of the driver, the vehicle can change the moving direction according to the center of gravity.
In 2001, a product of a motor-driven vehicle was launched according to the above patents and referred as “SEGWAY”. SEGWAY is a balancing personal vehicle driven by electricity entirely, and the electricity source is a lithium battery. The electricity is converted to power and then output by the motor and the exhausted battery can be charged with a general socket. SEGWAY does not produce and discharge carbon dioxide, thus it can reduce much air pollution and the consumption of energy relative to the motorcycles and the cars.
On the other hand, SEGWAY occupies a space merely wider slightly than a person when standing, thus it can move on a general road, enter an elevator, and over stride a small difference of level. Owing to the two co-axis installed wheels, the parking space required by SEGWAY is smaller than that required by the bicycles and the motorcycles. When SEGWAY is moving, the two-wheel installation and the differential steering design make the actions more flexible and SEGWAY even can move backward due to the above features. The interference with pedestrians by SEGWAY is less than the motorcycles or the bicycles installed with the front-and-rare wheels, thus SEGWAY possesses more advantages than other kinds of vehicles in a city with limited space.
However, owing to that SEGWAY is driven by electricity entirely, the situation of battery exhausting when moving may happen, and it is inconvenient for the driver to charge or exchange the battery. Moreover, SEGWAY must consume electricity, thus it can not conserve energy like the traditional bicycles.
In view of this, it has to provide a novel personal vehicle possessing the advantage of energy conservation of the traditional bicycles and the driving flexibility of SEGWAY with two co-axis installed wheels, and a personal vehicle suitable for using in the city will be developed. The combination of the novel personal vehicle and public vehicles can provide more flexibility and convenience and reduce the interference with pedestrians in a downtown.